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TOPICS
This issue of THINK sheds light on potentially lifesaving technologies and innovations being advanced by transportation leaders and visionaries across the country.
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Oklahoma: Modernizing Teen Driver, Work Zone and Move Over Safety
Tom Robins, founder of Work Zone Safe, describes his work with Oklahoma’s Department of Transportation to initiate a nation-leading program that modernized work zone safety education and engagement tools for teenagers.
Safer by Design
Nate Roseberry, assistant superintendent of the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways in Illinois, details how his agency seizes opportunities to infuse safety factors into diverse transportation projects while enhancing quality of life.
Safety Science
Dr. Xiao Qin, a Milwaukee-based thought leader on safety solutions, shares his team’s research into effective crash prevention measures and artificial intelligence’s future contributions to roadway safety.
Oklahoma: Modernizing Teen Driver Work Zone and Move Over Safety
By Tom Robins | Founder of Work Zone Safe, modernizing workzone safety education and engagement tools for new teen drivers
Leaving its pamphlets behind, Oklahoma has become the first state in the nation to modernize work zone and move over safety training for new teen drivers. Oklahoma now requires completion of a Work Zone and Move Over Safety Course before teens can receive their intermediate driver’s license.
National Safety Crisis
Modernizing teen driver work zone and move over safety comes at a critical time as Oklahoma, along with the rest of the country, is experiencing a record number of road fatalities and injuries. What I like to share with Department of Transportation (DOT) officials is that our roads are flooded with digitally distracted drivers, placing inexperienced drivers, road workers and first responders at elevated risk.
In 2022, the U.S. reported approximately 42,795 traffic-related deaths, emphasizing the pressing need for modernizing teen driver training. Distracted driving claimed 3,522 lives in 2021, with an additional 644 nonoccupants, such as pedestrians, falling victim to distracted-related crashes.
Lessons from Oklahoma’s Oil Field
After serving as Oklahoma’s Deputy Secretary of Energy, I formed the Energize for Safety Coalition, focused on transportation safety in Oklahoma communities where oil and gas were being produced. This experience made me realize that high school students — young drivers who were developing lifelong habits — needed additional support. They lacked modernized driver education tools, hands-on experience and online training to help them safely share the road with heavy trucks and equipment.
At the time, I worked closely with Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation Mike Patterson. He and other transportation leaders often wore orange ribbons, which signified the more than 70 Oklahoma Department of Transportation and Turnpike Authority employees who had lost their lives on the job. I discovered that Oklahoma like most states — had minimal requirements for teen drivers to learn about work zones or demonstrate slowing down and moving over safely for first responders.
Oklahoma Launches Work Zone Safe
In 2021, ODOT leadership went all in on modernizing its work zone and move over safety education for new teen drivers. Oklahoma began to offer in-person and online voluntary Work Zone Safe training for all new teen drivers. Teens who successfully completed work zone and move over safety training were then eligible for an insurance discount and the opportunity to win a $500 educational scholarship.
Oklahoma Work Zone Safe Law
It is my goal to ensure that every new teen driver knows there is a face and a family behind every flag and flashing light. Two legislative champions — Representative Ronny Johns, Chair of the House Transportation Committee and Senator Darcy Jech, Chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee — took the lead.
The legislators coauthored Oklahoma House Bill 2418, adding a single requirement to existing law: that the teen applicant complete “a free course approved by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation on teen driver work zone and first responder safety.” In April 2023, the bill passed nearly unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Kevin Stitt.
The Results
Since the law went into effect on November 1, 2023, 18,244 teen drivers have completed the online program available at WorkZoneSafe.com.
Safer Road Ahead
Everyone deserves to come home safely every day. When it comes to work zones and sharing the road with first responders, all drivers need to have their eyes up, phones down, buckle up and slow down.
Oklahoma is pleased to be leading the way in preparing our young people to be safer, more responsible drivers by teaching them valuable skills and exposing them to the hardworking people they see on the roadside and behind barriers and traffic signs.
I am currently working to bring Work Zone Safe to other states interested in modernizing their work zone and move over safety education for teen drivers. The National Work Zone Safety Course is now available for all teens at WorkZoneSafe.com with a scholarship provided by the American Traffic Safety Services Foundation.
MOVE OVER
In November 2023, Oklahoma became the first state in the country to require teen drivers to complete a course to help them safely navigate work zones and move over safely for first responders. The new law requires all Oklahoma teens to complete the free Oklahoma Work Zone and Move Over Safe online course before they apply for their intermediate driver licenses.
The new online course is designed for teens ages 15 to 19 and takes about one hour to complete. It covers topics ranging from driver preparation for work zones, relevant laws and signs, signals and protocols. The course includes video testimonials of teens, workers and families who endured life-changing losses by events in work zones and as first responders.
The Oklahoma traveling, hands-on work zone program is another opportunity to bring students face-to-face with highway workers who explain how to drive through work zones so that everyone can get home safely. This traveling program, which began in 2021 as part of Work Zone Safe. It is supported by ODOT, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, Oklahoma Challenge Teen Traffic Safety Program and other parties. Since this program’s inception in 2021, more than 18,000 teens have taken part in the experience.
The workers and first responders who participate in these interactive sessions all have a story to tell. The teens respond with empathy and immediately recognize that there is a face and a family behind every flag and flashing light.
Tom Robins founded Work Zone Safe, modernizing work zone safety education and engagement tools for new teen drivers. He is also the President of Solid Foundation Consulting. He founded the award-winning Energize for Safety Coalition focused on improving transportation safety in Oklahoma communities where energy is produced and transported.
Safer by Design
Cook County, Illinois is working to integrate proven safety features into road upgrades and maintenance projects, improving comfort and safety for those who walk and bike.
By Nate Roseberry | Assistant Superintendent, Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways
Over the last 20 years, a more holistic approach to transportation design has emerged across the country. This approach aims to create a more level playing field between operations and safety. While working on operational targets, there is a continued focus on safety as it helps to support local economies and the needs of a broader base of users. We’re not only focused on the safety of vehicles and the people inside them but also answering questions such as: How comfortable is it to bike? How secure is it to walk? How easy is it to access transit?
In Cook County, such questions are particularly important because of the density and diversity of our population. Cook County is the second-most populous county in the nation, an economic leader and a vital transportation hub. The county’s road infrastructure is fully built out, so everything we undertake must be carefully considered and executed. As a result, the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways is dedicated to defining goals and problems early in project development and scoping because everyone involved must understand what, and for whom, we’re designing.
Safety Moves to the Forefront
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration there were an estimated 328,946 people injured in speeding-related traffic crashes in 2021. Across the country, there are efforts underway to reduce the negative impact of motor use and incorporate ways to reduce vehicle speed in transportation design to improve safety.
Cook County is looking at roadway reconfigurations (lane repurposing) to create more separation between opposing traffic, reducing head-on crashes by adding center turn lanes. Those projects include simply narrowing existing lanes or reducing the number of through lanes to make space for a center turn lane. Creating space for left-turning vehicles helps reduce rear-end crashes, and the reclaimed space can provide room to add bike lanes and refuge islands for pedestrians. We also can use traffic signal timing as part of the roadway network design, timing lights for vehicle progression based on the speed at which we want people to travel.
Intentional design leveraging roadway geometry also can help make drivers feel like they should be traveling at a certain speed, even if they don’t consciously know why. This may include adding concrete at intersections for improved channelization and organization of modes or shaping corners with a radius that encourages safer speeds for all vehicles, helping to protect vulnerable users. Other cues, such as sidewalks, trees and public seating areas can set expectations for travel at slower speeds. Good design can deliver better results than speed limit signs alone.
Safety and Comfort, To and Through
It’s important to differentiate between safety and comfort as they relate to roadway design. Improving safety is all about reducing the frequency and severity of crashes. Comfort relates to how secure and welcome people feel when traveling within the public way, regardless of mode of transportation.
Busy intersections with crosswalks offer a good illustration of the interplay of safety and comfort. If people don’t have confidence that they can walk or bike safely in an area, it restricts their ability to go where they want and can diminish economic and community vitality. In 2021, nearly 2,900 people were involved in pedestrian crashes in Cook County.
DoTH is committed to using every tool available to improve resident safety while using the roadways outside of an automobile.
Roadway design needs to support the safe, comfortable movement of both vehicles and people. Depending on the project, planners may vary a roadway design to optimize the impact on the local economy.
Two Wheels, Countless Enthusiasts
Every year, more people become aware of the benefits of biking. Cook County has a vital ecosystem of biking advocates, and public agencies are starting to get more involved with initiatives that help riders and drivers more comfortably and safely share roadways. It only takes a few showcase projects to build momentum and show people that biking is practical and fun.
For example, during the peak travel period near the Chicago Loop, about half of the trips taken on Milwaukee Avenue are by bicycle. In the past 25 years, that corridor has been upgraded from shared bike lanes to buffered bike lanes, and now, Chicago is committed to installing separated bike lanes as a best practice. This gradual evolution demonstrates the demand for improved safety, innovation and comfort. Cook County is building out its bicycling infrastructure as part of our commitment to complete streets, and we’re leading
project coordination across jurisdictions and agencies. It’s great to see individual municipalities plan and develop their own biking trails, but it’s more powerful when all assets are linked to create a dynamic network that can serve people across the entire region. A great example is Cook County’s collaboration with various agencies and municipalities to connect the City of Chicago and the Village of Burnham via the Burnham Multimodal Connector, closing a 2.5-mile gap that includes roadways and railroad tracks. DoTH works hard to foster the partnerships and resources that make cross-jurisdictional projects possible.
Progress, Not Perfection
Regardless of the scope of a project, there is no replacement for earning the trust and participation of others. DoTH aims to create a sense of ownership among partners, so they’re prepared to acknowledge competing goals and maintain momentum by keeping the big picture in mind.
Change takes time, and it requires patience to weave innovations involving safety, complete streets or other goals into the work that we undertake every day. In the future, we’ll no longer think of safety as a strategy that’s overlaid on a project; rather we hope to see every plan and project move forward with safety concepts integrated at every step. With this approach, we’ll bend the curve to reduce crashes and provide people with outstanding transportation experiences.
Nathan “Nate” Roseberry, PE, is assistant superintendent of the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways (DoTH). DoTH has jurisdictional authority over 568 center line miles of highways, maintaining 1,620 lane-miles of pavement, 132 bridges and 360 traffic signals, among other facilities.
Nate also is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Illinois Chicago. An avid bicyclist, he was the lead engineer for the bicycle program in Chicago, designed multi-modal streets on the Northwestern University and University of Illinois campuses and managed and designed transportation in suburban settings.
Nate received a Bachelor of Science of Education and a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Iowa.
Safety Science
University researchers in Wisconsin are collaborating with transportation innovators to harness data and technology to prevent serious crashes and deaths while improving system efficiency.
By
Dr. Xiao Qin, PE | Director of Institute for Physical Infrastructure & Transportation and of the Safe and Smart (S2) Traffic Lab, Lawrence E. Sivak ’71 Professor at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
States across the country are transforming roadways so they can be shared more safely by vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians alike. We know that ensuring safety requires a holistic approach, which is expressed as the 4 E’s — Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Emergency medical services, and more recently, a safe system approach. And approaches such as Complete Streets help create more walkable neighborhoods, more integrated transportation networks and platforms for people to move efficiently.
To enhance innovative safety benefits, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Safe and Smart Traffic Lab team works with state, regional and national transportation leaders to better understand what risks exist and develop possible solutions. Our work is grounded in the view that we can increase the impact of safety improvement efforts by blending two strategies: initiating systemic safety improvements and maintaining a sharp focus on preventing fatal or serious-injury crashes.
The safety community has increasingly realized that we cannot eliminate all crashes, but we might be able to eliminate fatal and severe injury crashes. This belief underlies the Vision Zero concept, which is being adopted in many areas of the country.
Objective: Reduce Worst Crashes
Systemic improvements have proven highly effective in reducing severe and deadly crashes. Such measures involve installing safety-oriented infrastructure across a state’s road system broadly. Measures include, for example, adding rumble strips to the edges of the roadway or installing high-tension cable guards across many miles of highway median. Such measures help to prevent crashes that, despite being random and sporadic, tend to have severe consequences when they occur. Implementation of such measures doesn’t require a crash history; only an understanding of the factors that contribute to crashes. With strong guidelines, they can be implemented systemwide very cost effectively.
We also are exploring the effectiveness of more targeted measures that can address serious crashes. This work involves significant focus on left turns being executed across oncoming traffic because the drivers involved often are most vulnerable to severe injuries in a crash scenario. An important method to address this risk is to channelize traffic, directing vehicles to reduce or eliminate the number of conflict points between them. This comes down to adopting innovative intersections to replace or upgrade the conventional designs we see on highways across America. One example of this strategy is the J-turn intersection, which many states have been implementing. Instead of drivers on the minor approach needing to cross oncoming traffic to get to the opposing lane and turn left, they execute a right turn; they then travel with the traffic flow, move over to the left lane, and then make a U-turn to begin driving in their desired direction. This J-shaped path of travel reduces their risk of collision and may take less time than waiting to time their rapid acceleration across a major highway with high-speed traffic.
Another innovation, which is beginning to gain traction nationally, is the diverging diamond interchange. With this interchange design, the street traffic is directed so that it temporarily crosses to the other side of the road between highway ramps. This lets vehicles turn left onto the highway ramps without crossing oncoming lanes of traffic. As with the J-turn, this type of channelization reduces the potential conflict points between vehicles.
Roundabout Capital of USA
Wisconsin began adopting roundabouts 20 years ago as a means to improve intersection safety. It now has more roundabout intersections than any other state — about 550 of them — and is committed to building more of them in the years ahead.
The design principle of a roundabout — slow, steady traffic flow in one direction serves to virtually eliminate fatal or serious crashes. At a conventional intersection there are 32 potential conflict points (defined by the Federal Highway Administration as any location where road users’ paths coincide) between vehicles; this drops to eight in a roundabout. There’s a similar decline in conflict points between pedestrians and motorists.
Beyond the safety dimensions to reduce serious and fatal crashes, roundabouts require less maintenance than signalized intersections, and they can make traffic flow more efficient and could reduce emissions because drivers often only have to yield, rather than stop and idle, before entering the intersection.
Data-Driven Decisions and AI Tools
The data and tools to help transportation leaders make informed decisions about safety investments continually evolves. We are entering an era when artificial intelligence applications have the potential to give transportation agencies deeper insights into safety risks and patterns, and to sharpen remedial strategies. Our research reveals some promising AI-related developments:
• Better-Synthesized Data: The volume and dimensions of data is constantly growing. AI is able to consume high-dimension, large-volume data, and distill it so practitioners can more easily employ it in their safety planning efforts.
• Troves of Unlocked Insights: Custom large-language models, such as Generative Pre-trained Transformer can serve to summarize and synthesize massive volumes (millions of pages) of safety-related literature. AI thus may unlock a new universe of safety-related insights for decision makers.
• Near-Misses Revealed: Computer vision has been widely used in traffic surveillance systems, which lets practitioners analyze collision data after the fact. Now, by streaming a much broader range of video images and feeding other parameters into AI, transportation practitioners can gain insights into “near misses” or “close calls” too, which they can correlate to collision risk and formulate effective mitigation measures.
Moving Plans Into Action
Safety is at the core of our professional practice and our commitment to the system users we serve. Here are a few thoughts that may help to guide us in our work.
1. Beyond commitment Take concerted action
We know safety is a top priority in our industry. There can be a gap between the vision of greater safety and the actions needed to achieve it. Devote the talent and resources necessary to plan, fund, engineer and build the infrastructure that delivers real, measurable safety improvements.
2. Data management Give it the focus it demands Data management is a huge task. More data means more evaluation and refinement into actionable insights. This requires adopting a comprehensive data management system. It means gathering as much data as possible about crashes, roadways and traffic, and driver or telematics data, if possible. It also entails choosing the correct model to recognize patterns in the data and spot the most prominent safety risk factors among hundreds of others. Only by amassing, processing and rationalizing data can an agency pinpoint the most promising safety strategies for a specific location.
3. Countermeasures Build a readyto-execute library When engineers have best practice techniques at their fingertips, they can accelerate both the progress and efficiency of safety-focused projects. Invest in creating or expanding your library of technically sound models and methods so that your team can access a range of countermeasures and relevant tools to address their specific goals.
4. Communication Engage all stakeholders
Safety is a simple word, but manifesting it in reality is very complicated. This is why communicating the purpose, process and progress of safety initiatives is so important. Although focus is on drivers and vehicles, all users of the road, such as pedestrians and bicyclists, can contribute to crash prevention.
5. Accountability Set goals and measure results
Every agency needs to determine what functions and individuals are accountable for achieving the safety goals that have been established. This requires distilling the broad aims of safety improvement down to certain steps, milestones and expected outcomes. With accountability comes greater commitment and results.
Partnerships for Safety
Near-term progress on reducing serious roadway crashes will rely on strong partnerships among transportation engineers, researchers, educators, public officials, technology innovators, law enforcement, insurers and many others. Our team looks forward to working with all of these participants to make Wisconsin, the U.S. and the world safer for the people who use our systems.
Dr. Xiao Qin is Director of the Institute for Physical Infrastructure & Transportation (IPIT), as well as the Lawrence E. Sivak ’71 Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).
Dr. Qin also is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Civil Engineering and the Director of the Safe and Smart (S2) Traffic Lab at UWM.
A thought-leader in applying scientific methods to safety solutions, Dr. Qin is coauthor of Highway Safety Analytics and Modeling, a textbook which provides state-of-the-art knowledge about how to better analyze safety data, relevant tools and methods, and insights into the decision-making process for pursuing safety improvements.
He completed his Doctorate in Civil Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in transportation and highway engineering at Southeast University in Nanjing, China.
